Our ears pricked up when we realised we were headed for the chocolate capital of argentina, Bariloche. Its situated at the edge of the andes in the lake district and itself is on the lakefront with national parks and skiing centres all around. After another night bus we took it easy and got aquainted with the city (and the chocolate) and had a bit of a rest. It is also famous for st bernards, who sit in the square with their owners, ready to pose for photos.

We had intended on heading out early for a hike the next day but got up a little lake and had to do a shorter one that started from the centre and headed up to one of the small ski centres near the city. It was a fairly easy walk but the views over the lake were stunning and we got to see some one paraglide off the top. We were a little annoyed that as we got to the second ski centre we were told we had to pay to do the last 100m walk to the top but as we had come that far we decided we couldnt go back without making the summit so digged deep into our pockets and begrudgingly paid the man. We saw some people manage to avoid paying basically by scaling the cliff under where the cable cart was running but they said they wouldnt recommend what they had just done to anyone as it was pretty dangerous so we were better off paying. As we went down there were lots of bikers heading down the path after they had caught the cable cars up which definitely looked like an easy ride to us. We had dinner at a recommended steak restaurant where we saw a couple just eat steak with nothing else. It was good but sometimes its nice to having something other than just a slab of meat, not that we dare say that to the argentinians.

Everyone had raved about a bike ride through one of the parks a little way from the city so we decided to give it a go. Up until this day the weather had been pretty good but was now beginning to turn. We hired our bikes and set off . The ride is only 25km but there are no flat bits, it is entirely up and down which begins to take it out of your legs. We came across a couple, one of which we had met in el calafate and joined them for lunch by one of the lakes. They guy was racing off but the girl was obviously struggling so we stayed back with her. They decided to do a little walke after lunch but we cracked on. The wind was begining to pick up and we still had a fair way left. As we came down one of the hills we could see the wind on the lake but did not realise we had to cross the lake. It was really hard to cycle through and allthough we got through that bit as we turned the corner a gust of wind blew vikki off her bike and she sprained her wrist as she landed. We decided to walk up the next bit and when the couple caught up with us we were going to ring the bike company to get picked up until we realised we didnt know the code for argentina. Luckily I had some strapping and we took it slowly over the next few hills. We somehow made it to the top where the views over the lakes were amazing but we didnt get to appreciate them too long as the wind was howling around us and it was getting hard to stand. Most of the rest of the way was downhill but we got nervous again as we had to cross the lake and would be exposed to the wind once again. I decided to go full throttle and just about made it over but vikki took one look and didnt want to chance it so walked across. We were glad to get back to the bike place and had a quick drink before getting the bus back to the centre.

We had a fairly tame night out and decided that we werent going to be able to do much the next day as vikkis wrist was so sore so decided to have an easy day watching dvds at the hostel and sampling lots of the delicious chocolate the weather was pretty attrocious so we were glad to be inside. Vikki had a chess lesson and the later we sampled poker and had a big poker game with a few guys at the hostel but luckily noone took it too serious. The next day we did a short hike to the place we had been told had the best views of the city and lakes. Everyone else seemed to be taking the chair lift up but we percervered and climbed the steep path to the top. We took in the breathtaking views for a while but the weather was getting bad again so we headed back down before we got stranded. We had a fairly easy last night as we were heading over the border to Pucon the next day.